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Friday, September 2, 2011

The U.S.-Syria War Of Words: It’s Getting Personal

By Josh Rogin

Jeffrey Feltman (left) with Walid al-Muallem

The
ongoing war of words between the Obama administration and the Bashar al-Assad
regime is quickly descending into a nasty exchange of personal insults and
invectives between officials that have borne grudges against each other for
years.

Both
the U.S. and the Syrian governments have recently taken cheap shots at each
other's officials. For instance, the Syrian national television station has
called U.S. Ambassador Robert Ford a "dog" and said he must have been
"shitting his pants with diarrhea" when he heard the fireworks that
were being set off in a downtown square.

This
week, the State Department unloaded on Syrian Foreign Minister Walid
al-Muallem. On Tuesday, after the Treasury Department announced new sanctions
on three Syrian officials, the State Department sent around some additional
quotes to reporters about Muallem, to be attributed as coming from a
"senior administration official."

"Walid
Muallem has played a key role in trying to insulate the regime from the
implications of its own brutality. By devoting himself to strenuously trying to
hide Syrian government culpability in the murder and torture of Syrian
citizens, Muallem bears some responsibility for the crimes committee. He has
intervened with counterparts to try to prevent the U.N. Security Council from
taking action," the senior administration official said.

Then
came the kicker: "Muallem remains an unapologetic, shameless tool and
mouthpiece of Bashar al-Assad," the senior administration said.

At
Wednesday's State Department briefing, reporters pressed spokeswoman Victoria
Nuland on whether she would repeat these insults on the record, and whether she
thought it was constructive to publicly demean the Syrian foreign minister.

Nuland's
answer was yes on both accounts.

"He
has played a key role in trying to insulate the Assad regime from the
implications of its own brutality by devoting himself strenuously to trying to
hide the Assad regime's capability and the murder and torture of Syrian citizens.
Muallem bears personal responsibility as well for the crimes committed. He's
intervened with counterparts to try to prevent the U.N. Security Council from
taking action," she said.

"You
know, we saw people in the Qaddafi circle demonstrate a clear understanding of
right and wrong when the tide began to turn there. They chose to defect. That
has not yet happened with senior members of the Bashar Assad regime. Muallem
remains unapologetic. He remains as a shameless tool and a mouthpiece of Assad
and his regime."

And
Nuland had more Muallem bashing quotes in her briefing book:

"Not
done. Not done. More Muallem," she said. "He has also served as one
of the key links between Damascus and Tehran, and he's strengthened Assad's
reliance on Iranian equipment and advice in his relentless crackdown on the
Syrian people."

Muallem
is one of the key interlocutors between the Obama administration and the Assad
regime, and the public sniping doesn't bode well for future contact. It could
also be awkward when Muallem comes to New York next week for the U.N. General
Assembly, but apparently the State Department no longer cares about playing
nice.

Some
reports have suggested that the personal nature of the insults is based on
long-standing grudges between some members of the Obama administration and the
Syrian officials. This Associated Press article links the new rhetoric to
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman, who
survived an assassination attempt, presumably planned by Syria, when he was
ambassador to Lebanon during the George W. Bush administration.

"The
Assad regime is probably at the top of the suspect list," in terms of who
tried to kill Feltman, said Andrew Tabler, fellow at the Washington Institute
for Near East Policy and author of a new book about the U.S.-Syria
relationship, In the Lion's Den, although Tabler doesn't think the war of words
is based solely on personal grudges.

"Engagement
is over, we are now essentially in a policy of confrontation. It's certainly a
sign of the incredibly bad state of relations between the two countries,"
he said. "And it is getting nasty."

About Me

I graduated from the French University in Beirut (St Joseph) specialising in Political and Economic Sciences. I started my working life in 1973 as a reporter and journalist for the pan-Arab magazine “Al-Hawadess” in Lebanon later becoming its Washington, D.C. correspondent. I subsequently moved to London in 1979 joining “Al-Majallah” magazine as its Deputy Managing Editor. In 1984 joined “Assayad” magazine in London initially as its Managing Editor and later as Editor-in-Chief. Following this, in 1990 I joined “Al-Wasat” magazine (part of the Dar-Al-Hayat Group) in London as a Managing Editor. In 2011 I became the Editor-In-Chief of Miraat el-Khaleej (Gulf Mirror). In July 2012 I became the Chairman of The Board of Asswak Al-Arab Publishing Ltd in UK and the Editor In Chief of its first Publication "Asswak Al-Arab" Magazine (Arab Markets Magazine) (www.asswak-alarab.com).

I have already authored five books. The first “The Tears of the Horizon” is a love story. The second “The Winter of Discontent in The Gulf” (1991) focuses on the first Gulf war sparked by Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. His third book is entitled “Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: From Balfour Promise to Bush Declaration: The Complications and the Road to a Lasting Peace” (March 2008). The fourth book is titled “How Iran Plans to Fight America and Dominate the Middle East” (October 2008) And the fifth and the most recent is titled "JIHAD'S NEW HEARTLANDS: Why The West Has Failed To Contain Islamic Fundamentalism" (May 2011).

Furthermore, I wrote the memoirs of national security advisor to US President Ronald Reagan, Mr Robert McFarlane, serializing them in “Al-Wasat” magazine over 14 episodes in 1992.

Over the years, I have interviewed and met several world leaders such as American President Bill Clinton, British Prime Minister Margaret Thacher, Late King Hassan II of Morocco, Late King Hussein of Jordan,Tunisian President Zein El-Abedine Bin Ali, Lybian Leader Moammar Al-Quadhafi,President Amine Gemayel of Lebanon,late Lebanese Prime Minister Rafic Hariri, Late Palestinian Chairman Yasser Arafat, Haitian President Jean Claude Duvalier, Late United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Zayed Bin Sultan Al Nahyan,Algerian President Shazli Bin Jdid, Jamaican Prime Minister Edward Siyagha and more...